Author: seasidesparkles

Things are slowly getting back to normal and I’m well enough now to walk to school and also to drive. It was a welcome return to taxi duties on Youth club night. I am back to wearing shoes, albeit wide fit trainers. Its also good to have my slippers back on, I’ve missed them over the past month, my little toes did get cold!

I was really proud of our son this week as we had his Annual Review and it was so lovely to hear of all his progress and his kind and funny character. He really is one of the most laid back and witty young people I know, nothing phases him and he is such a tonic to be around. We know this but when you hear it from others, it feels even better.

This week has been so tough professionally, one of the worst weeks of my 25 year career. I hoped that I would feel relief by the end of the week, but I’m so emotionally frazzled, I feel devastated, sad, excited and hopeful, all mixed together. It’s going to take some time to work through this, but no matter how difficult this week was ( and I’m sure there’ll be more difficult conversations next week) I do believe that you’ve got to stay true to your values and beliefs to live an authentic life, both personally and professionally.

In all the very serious adult world of work, I have needed light relief this week. I don’t know if its my state of mind, but even watching Strictly and the Great British Bake Off was emotional this week. Rose and Giovanni’s Couples Choice dance, where they stopped the music so the audience could share Rose’s experience of dancing without hearing the music, was so powerful and touching, I cried. Having seen the reaction on Twitter and Gogglebox, I wasn’t the only one, it was such a beautiful inclusive thing to watch. I’ve just watched Strictly tonight and their dance to Frozen was so funny and superb, Rose and Giovanni are my winners for this year’s series (but I do love AJ and Kai too). On Tuesday, my favourite, Jurgen was eliminated in the semi final of the Bake Off. I actually shouted a nooooooooooo at the tv when the result was announced, he’s been one of the best bakers all series and is one of life’s nice guys. I did watch Last Slice on Friday night and he was even more precious and genuine on the programme. The audience’s reaction to him was wonderful, I don’t think the eventual winner will get a warmer, more enthusiastic welcome. Now its on to the final and I’m team Giuseppe, we need a Jurgen and Giuseppe spin off series, two wonderful, warm and witty bakers. Bake off with its friendliness and niceness is the perfect programme for us all to cherish.

As well as cosy nights in watching tv, I’ve also read a book, Always in December which I thought was going to distract me with its Christmas sparkles. It started with the lovely festive feels but then there was such a sad ending. I didn’t see it coming at all, everything was so neatly lined up for the happy ever after. Honestly this week everything seems to designed to have me in tears, I’m not sure I have any tears left to cry.

As I write this I’m watching a programme on Paul McCartney. It led me to a memory and one that thanks to the internet I’ve been able to relive tonight. When I was a teenager, I loved (still do) The Beatles and when I was 16, saw that Paul McCartney was on a world tour. My dad got us tickets to go and see him in Glasgow, as we have family nearby. It was one of those special nights of your life, I remember just dancing and singing all night long, not quite believing that I was seeing Paul McCartney play live. The set list was great, a bit of a greatest hits list but the big finale which I’ve been able to find on You Tube was Mull of Kintyre, when a Scottish pipe band were brought onto the stage, I still remember the goose bumps. It was amazing to watch the clip, more than 30 years later and be taken back to that night in Glasgow. (Yep, tears again, I’m a wreck this week)

I have no idea what the next week will bring but there are some good entries in my diary, my sister in law is coming over tomorrow and Friday is an Inset day for my daughter so we’re off to Southampton for a Christmas shopping trip. Sometimes you simply need to focus and hold on to those nice things..

During this week, I reached the 3 week post operation date, the minimum period for recovery which was advised as being between 3 – 6 weeks. This meant that I am back upstairs in our room again, I returned to work onsite on Friday, albeit that Mr S dropped me off and picked me up and both days this weekend, I’ve gone for longer walks. Today’s was 2.5 miles so I have the confidence to walk to work as from tomorrow, which is around a mile each way. It was so good to walk along the seafront yesterday, it actually seemed a little milder than the days preceding my operation and it’s always lovely to have the winter sun on your face.

I did have a setback last Sunday and Monday when I really felt quite poorly, I’m not sure if it was related to the recovery or just a really bad migraine, but I struggled. On the upside, it strengthened my determination to get better as soon as I could. There’s a lot in my diary for the coming weeks and I’m keen to participate, thus, walking and driving are key things to practice. I’ve not attempted any driving yet as I need to be able to wear a shoe and I’m still in my boot. I did buy some new trainers this week (online, not shopping IRL yet) but I couldn’t wear them, they were too narrow. However its not a brand I normally wear so I’m hoping this was the problem as I naturally have a wide fit. I have another couple of pairs of trainers coming through this week, so fingers crossed for a good fit.

Mr S has a new temporary part time job, which is a very early start so 3 evenings a week he’s in bed by 8.30pm and I have the tv gadget. We have quite different tastes so I like having my choices. This week I finished Show Trial, I liked it and felt drawn in by the characters, the lead character is so awful that you can’t warm to her but as her story comes through, you understand her better. What was interesting in the series was that no one knew what happened in the murder incident, the viewer has the same information as the police, there is no use of flashback and whilst you get the jury result, the doubt remains.

I was also keen to watch the new Sky film, The Colour Room on the early career of Clarice Cliff, the ceramic artist. I am a fan of her work, her use of colour is stunning and fun. Its a really good film and perfect for a cosy Friday night in.

This week, I also finished the book Writers and Lovers. It is a slow burner but I am pleased that I continued as it has a strong ending and from around half way through I couldn’t put it down. In reading reviews of the book, I noticed that Lily King’s previous work, Euphoria has rave reviews so I may add this to my to be read pile. I am now going to start a Christmas reading journey. Last year, I didn’t get the chance to read much fiction or watch Christmassy themed films as I was busy with my Uni deadline and promised myself that year I would make up for it!

Christmas is a big theme at present, I like to get as organised as possible, so I did the final edits and ordered our Christmas cards this week from a design by my daughter. Over the past few years, I have started to do our own cards and its become a highlight of the prep, as the feedback has been so lovely from friends and family. Its a penguin theme this year and I love it, its so cute. The service with the cards was excellent, I ordered on Wednesday and received the cards and a canvas by Saturday morning. My aim now is to do a few cards a night, as I do like to write a personal message in all.

Its a busy week next week, although I no longer need to go to Birmingham for a work event which would have been a few days away. This is a relief although its been covered by other work matters and I’ll be doing some unavoidable overtime. I’m hoping by the end of the week, I’ll be able to do some short, local drives which will help family life and take some pressure off Mr S.

Week 3 of my recovery and I think I’m beginning to hibernate. As someone who used to like to be outside, I’m definitely developing a new need to be inside, warm and cosy at present. I’ll take this as I recover, but I think I’ll need to be quite disciplined in the next few weeks. I did go on one trip out this week to the clinic and had another layer of dressing and bandages removed. The photo was taken in between dressing when I was trying to compare swelling and foot sizes. I’m still not in shoes, but using my trusty boot. I have been doing my foot exercises thrice daily, they’re a bit painful but I’m hoping this is a good sign. I have also started to walk up and down stairs (down is definitely trickier) and am planning tonight as the last in my downstairs bedroom before returning to my big, comfy bed.

Given that I am house bound, we did very little on Halloween, I did a fancy platter of some sweet treats (the milky ghost from M&S are yummy) and we watched a film. It was a pretty horrible, wet and windy day so everyone was quite agreeable to the plan. I also had a box of chocolates to share as the day before, my daughter’s boyfriend had brought me some flowers and chocolates as a get well gift. I was so impressed by his kindness and thoughtfulness.

On Monday, I went back to work, well I worked from home. Throughout the pandemic I have been onsite for every single working day, so working from home is a novelty. I was amazed how productive I was, the nature of my role means my phone goes pretty much constantly and we always have visitors to our office, so without distraction, I got a lot done. However then I wanted to try and do even more and take the pressure off my colleague in our office and I ended up working a lot of extra hours during the week. Like many jobs, I’m not sure I even scratched the surface of work needing to be done, it is relentless at present. My colleague and I have both been reading Fewer Things Better by Angela Watson. It is a great book and now the challenge is to apply our new found knowledge to our working lives.

This week also saw Mr S birthday. Now I had been super organised, pre operation, so there was very little to be done on the day apart from making a lightbox message and blowing up a few balloons. I did offer to buy a take away for his birthday tea bit we just had Mr S favourite home cooked meal and enjoyed his birthday cake. Its always a Christmas cake as this is his favourite and fortunately its a good time of year to be able to buy them!

Birthdays and special occasions have now paused after a busy few weeks so its that pre Christmas period. I do love Christmas but need to wait for a few more weeks before I can start to get really excited about it. My daughter and I are Christmas shopping on her Inset day on the 26th so I think this will be our start to the season. I’m still at home working next week, although I’m going to try and work onsite on Friday before returning properly the following week.

Half term, especially October half term is one of the little sparkles of the year. The weather whilst cooler still allows outdoor activities and coupled with Halloween, bonfire night and family birthdays there’s always a nice atmosphere to the week. Its a week full of plans and little surprises. Sadly this year due to my post op recovery, its been a very quiet, home based week, there’s definitely lots of making up to do in the coming months. However, the children have been really good, its been a dull week but they’ve enjoyed bonus screen time, getting Disney + was an inspired idea and some creative tasks.

On Monday, the children did get to leave town. However, this was to get their Covid vaccinations at the local hub. Whilst the rollout for adults has been fantastic, its been slower and more frustrating for the over 12s, as the school vaccinations haven’t quite worked as planned. On the last day of the half term we got a letter from our daughter’s school offering the vaccination at the hub on special sessions dependent on age and surname. The first tranche was for 12 – 13 year olds which fortunately both children fall under. However, our son who is at special school had not received this information (its a bit out of the catchment area of the hub) We took the chance and took him to the correct age and surname session on Monday and they were more than happy to do him, although not clear, the session was for 12 year olds from the local surgeries not schools. On the letter, they had also said they would do siblings so Little Miss was vaccinated then too, rather than needing to wait until Nov 6th. Whilst both has a little bit of an achy arm, neither had any side effects. Its a big relief to have us all vaccinated and feeling more confident, I have booked the train tickets this week, for me and Little Miss to enjoy a day of Christmas shopping. For me, this is quite a big deal, public transport and a visit to a busy city centre, as I make more tentative steps to real life again.

The other trip out of town the children had was a family trip to the foot clinic! I am unable to drive so Mr S needed to take me. We feel that the children are too young to be at home alone for the few hours it would take to drive to big town, attend the appointment and return. Fortunately the clinic is in a shopping centre so when I went to the clinic, Mr S went for a coffee and the children went to some shops to spend their pocket money. They enjoy this independence and for Little Man especially this is a big thing, so the trip was well received. My foot is healing well, it was the first time I had got to see my foot since the operation. The wound is fine and stitched up neatly but I felt quite queasy and faint at the sight of my foot as it is black with bruises from the operation. I now have a smaller bandage so my foot fits in my boot better and am allowed to be on my foot for half an hour before resting and elevating it. This advice has meant that I am now taking a daily walk outside, at the moment its only up to the local post box and back but its good to be in the fresh air. I have another follow up appointment next week.

With the exception of my walks, I am still resting a lot at home, so lots of reading, 3 books this week and watching films. This week’s favourite film was Cruella, the background story to 101 Dalmatians. It was brilliant and I really enjoyed it, the costumes are stunning and a major part of the storyline. The two lead actors Emma Stone and Emma Thompson are superb in the film. Of the books I read, despite its rather grand title, Essentialism, the disciplined pursuit of less by Greg McKeown was an inspirational book with so many takeaways. It was recommended by a friend and certainly makes one consider lifestyle. Its main arguments are that you need to identify what really matters to you and then invest time and energy in these things to enable you to live a life of purpose and meaning. Its not about doing more but less, better.

As its Halloween this weekend, it wouldn’t be half term without pumpkin carving. We made it a little different this year by spray painting two smaller pumpkins and then painting them and then we followed tradition by carving the two larger pumpkins. I enjoyed the pumpkin painting, the results are great and we’ll be doing this again next year. I saw some Day of the Dead painted pumpkins online and this is on my list for next year. I also learnt (after we had carved and scooped ours) to carve and hollow out from the base of a pumpkin, a useful hint for 2022.

Today, Little Miss is out with her boyfriend to the swimming pool with all the fancy slides and then out for pizza as his birthday treat. She’s very excited and its been nice for her to have something to look forward to. Little Man definitely needs a treat in the coming weeks.

I was worried that this week would be a little dull for the children, however we have got through the week okay and its nice to know this was a one off and we can make our normal plans and more for future school holidays.

I have a busy life and the way I maintain my sanity is to compartmentalise my life. So when at work, I fully focus on my job, at home its family life etc.. Generally this works and helps to manage my time, there is a time and place for everything. In the run up to my operation, I have continued this strategy but this week, as I have finished things off at work and delegated jobs in my absence the reality of the operation and recovery period is beginning to feel real. I have tried to distract myself with practical matters, all birthday cards and presents for the next 6 weeks are written, wrapped and posted, house admin is all prepped in advance and all the decorations and nice things for Halloween and Bonfire Night are all ready to go.

We have also transformed our dining room into my room for the next few weeks so there are no stairs to go up and down. I’m really pleased how this has turned out and has definitely inspired us to think of it as a potential guest room. I love that the French doors lead to a hidden courtyard and so even if I can’t go out I can open the doors and feel the air. I have a pile of books and magazines to read and a play list of podcasts in my room, I can’t imagine how its going to feel to have this time to pause.

With the upcoming operation, this week was all about work and there was no sparkles in the working week, apart from starting the book An American Marriage as part of the girls’ daily sofa reading time. This is when my daughter and I sit down together and read as part of her daily homework schedule. This was a book which grabbed me from page 1 and is one I think about when I’m not reading it, the injustice leaves you seething and I’m not sure there’s going to be a happy ending.

I had a lovely surprise in the post this week as my dad sent me a Fortnum and Mason recipe book for afternoon tea as a thank you for my gift of afternoon tea for his 75th birthday. Its a beautiful book with recipes I’m looking forward to trying.

Saturday was the highlight of the week for its simple pleasures. Our son was at scout camp, his first for nearly two years due to Covid, so we had a relaxed day at home following my Covid test as I needed to self isolate. My Covid test was first thing in a town 20 miles away so it was an early start with no time for my Saturday morning run. I arrived in the town early and was able to pop into Waitrose to pick up a few things, all the essentials, my Saturday newspaper, felt pumpkins, NYR moisturiser, the new Christmas Cath Kisdton Roses tin etc. before the isolation began. The test itself was easy and quick and I was home before 10am. Little Miss and I enjoyed a kitchen day, making a delicious butternut squash and sweet potato soup accompanied by home made cheese scones for lunch and mini Victoria sponges for an afternoon treat. We then settled down to watch Everyone’s Talking About Jamie, I loved it but I bet its even better on the stage as a musical. With Strictly finishing our day, it was my kind of day.

I’m now on the final countdown to the operation and hopefully by the next time I write all will have passed smoothly and I will be happily settled in my room recovering.

This week’s title does really some up the highlight of my week. Its been a week overshadowed by the worst migraine and accompanying sickness I’ve suffered in years, it was very grim couple of days and I’m still feeling a little fragile and gentle today.

The new washing machine arrived when I was ill, so Mr S got to have the first few gos. In fairness, he does the laundry, apart from ironing which I genuinely enjoy, so he does deserve the fun! Our washing machine has been slowly dying over the past few months, something went wrong with the drum and the noise on spin cycles was unbelievable, you could not have a conversation in the same room when on spin. We ordered one from John Lewis and also got removal of the old machine and installation of the new. This is when Mr S starts to panic over the correct measurements, whether it will be able to be installed correctly as its an integrated machine etc.. but thankfully John Lewis were amazing and all went very smoothly. My new washing machine has made me so happy this week, freshly laundered clothes and quiet washing, its perfect. In a stroke of genius (I was in bed so had no idea of this) Mr S also washed the walking boots and trainers the night before the old machine went as there was no worry about damage to the machine. I appreciate his smart thinking.

With illness there was very little to report this week, Ive not really watched, read or listened to anything apart from my favourite podcasts. Whilst doing a few jobs today I’ve had the marathon on in the background which is always inspiring, always leaving the eternal question do I enter?

Its been very much a home weekend, the rain yesterday actually seemed of biblical proportions and in such a rare occurrence, we didn’t go out at all, this genuinely never happens. It was a day of board games and planning special surprises. This month I have my parents’ 70th and 75th birthdays ( only a few months after their 50th wedding anniversary, its been a busy year) My dad’s is first so I’ve booked a champagne afternoon tea at the very exclusive London hotel they are going to for a few days. Its always been on my dad’s bucket list to stay at the hotel so I’ve just added a little sparkle. I made photo montage cards for both my mum and dad’s birthday and on Saturday afternoon, my daughter and I were looking through all the old family photos, it tickled my daughter to find a photo of her grandad with his parents at the age she is now. It was lovely looking at the old photos, remembering people no longer with us and just the happy times (oh and the fashions and hair styles) I scanned and sent a photo to my uncle of him, his dad, my Gramps and me which is about 45 years old now. The photo was just beautiful it felt like this warm, embracing hug in a picture. I recognised my grandparents front room immediately and could feel the soft velvet seat we were all sat on, their room never changed and the sight of their wallpaper and the old familiar mirror on the wall triggered such treasured memories.

My little challenge this year to keep wearing my shorts and flip flops has ended, but now the latest challenge is to keep the heating off! Its been so cold, wet and windy this week, the season has definitely changed. I’ve been wrapped up in a blanket in the evenings, making the use of a much appreciated birthday present. This weekend I did put away my summer clothes until next spring, there is a certain melancholy to this, but the song by the Byrds, Turn, turn, turn is just a beautiful reminder that each season will pass.

I couldn’t really write this week’s post without reference to the fuel crisis affecting the country. What started as a few issues with delivering fuel ended up as full blown panic and chaos. I had noticed that there were increasing issues over the past few weeks with HGV drivers so last time when I went to the petrol station (pre panic) I actually filled my car up full in case these problems extended to petrol and Mystic Meg that I am, so it proved. I am extremely lucky that I walk to work daily and only really use my car at weekends for the trips to the farm or parkrun, neither of which are essential. However, living in a rural location, vehicles are key to a lot of people for work and daily life and there have been long queues at the stations. I had to go to a neighbouring town for work this week and our journey home took an extra 40 minutes with drivers queuing for petrol. There is lots of talk of ’saving Christmas’ as there are also issues in many industries post Brexit (who would have predicted that!!) but I hope that the past 18 months has taught us that material goods aren’t what makes life tick, its people and relationships. I am in big thinking mode at present there’s a lot to consider.